the penny drops

idiom

British, informal

—used to say that someone finally understands something after not understanding it for a time

I had to explain it to him three times, but finally the penny dropped.

Examples of the penny drops in a Sentence

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Yeah, that montage is where the penny drops for her. —

Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 23 May 2024

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“The penny drops.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20penny%20drops. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

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